The client/server model is a computing model that provides a distributed computing framework in which services are provided to by service providers called servers to service requesters, called clients. Tasks and workloads may be shared across multiple servers and may be accessed by multiple clients. Clients communicate with servers over a computer network, such as the internet, or over other computer communication systems, such as a local area network, a bus, etc. Although clients and servers typically reside on separate hardware, both the client and the server may reside in the same system in some cases. Typically, clients initiate communication sessions with servers by issuing requests to the servers. The servers process the request and return responses to the clients.
A client/server network typically involves multiple clients connecting to a single, central server. Client/server systems are typically suited to applications in which a number of clients need access to a centralized data store. A centralized data store can be more effectively managed by a single server or group of servers than by a large number of client applications. The file server on a client/server network may therefore have a robust hardware configuration to handle large volumes of client service requests. Servers are therefore typically high speed computers with a storage capacity.
A client/server development system is a development system used to create applications for a client/server environment. A comprehensive system generally includes a graphical user interface (GUI) builder for creating a user interface, a programming language for writing the business logic, an interpreter and/or compiler for generating executable code from the business logic, and debugging tools. A client/server development system typically provides support for a database management system and may also include software configuration management for version control and bug tracking. Accordingly, client/server development systems are typically oriented towards database management.